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Sonoma Wine Company Earns Certified California Sustainable Winery (CCSW) Status for American Canyon and Graton Facilities

29 October, 2012

Graton, CA - Sonoma Wine Company, the North Coast’s largest, full-service crush-to-bottle contract winery services provider, earned Certified California Sustainable Winery status for its Graton and American Canyon winemaking facilities on October 9, 2012. These certifications were awarded through the third-party certification process from the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.

“This is a validation of the great works that the team at Sonoma Wine Company has been undertaking since we began operations in 2001, we’ve received many environmental awards at the regional and state level[1], but this is really gratifying for us given its comprehensive criteria,” stated Director of Business Development, Natasha Granoff.  The CSWA established certification programs for wineries and vineyards to recognize the advancements in sustainability of the California wine industry through the adoption of sustainable practices.  The program certifies both wineries and vineyards.

The CCSW certification for the American Canyon and Graton facilities are representative of Sonoma Wine Company’s longstanding dedication to sustainable practices.  In 2010, Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair flipped the switch on the Graton facility’s new solar cogeneration system, which was at the time the first commercial-scale installation of the thermal and photovoltaic technology. In March of 2011, Sonoma Wine Company’s American Canyon winery became the first American winery to achieve ISO 22000 certification, the international standard of food safety in the ISO quality management series.

“Quality management systems streamline operations, reduce costs and stimulate innovation in operational practices,” said Dennis Carroll, President of Sonoma Wine Company.  “It is about continuous improvement and best business practices, hot button topics that dovetail nicely with our sustainable business goals,” added General Manager, Ed Silva.

According to the policies of the CSWA, the CCSW logo can be used in marketing materials, websites and secondary packaging but not on a wine label. Logos or claim statements made on secondary packaging attached to the wine bottle (‘neckers’ for example) can be used if the wine was both made in a certified winery facility and with at least 85% of grapes from certified vineyards. These regulations will enable Sonoma Wine Company clients making wine from CSWA certified sustainable vineyards to enhance their communications materials to indicate the sustainability of their vineyard and winery status if they so desire.

For media queries, interviews and imagery please contact Charles Communications Associates at press@charlescomm.com  or 415-701-9463.

About Sonoma Wine Company: Sonoma Wine Company is a full-service crush-to-bottle contract winery partnering with California wine producers to crush, ferment, barrel, bottle and warehouse wine programs of all sizes. With five modern facilities located in both Sonoma and Napa counties, the facility can accommodate any size program. With superior customer service and a wide array of equipment including state-of-the-art crush facilities, over two million gallons of stainless cooperage, and six modern bottling lines, the facility can tailor its services and highly experienced staff to match client’s programs so that clients can spend time connecting with distributors, building a customer base, and growing brands. Sonoma Wine Company has tailored its business to match the size of almost any wine program from private label to large contract producers. Whether companies are producing 500 cases or 500,000 cases, Sonoma Wine Company can scale a company’s growth accordingly.

About California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA): The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) developed a third-party certification program related to the California Sustainable Winegrowing Program (SWP) to increase the sustainability of the California wine industry by promoting the adoption of sustainable practices and ensuring continual improvement.  The goals of the certification program, Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW-Certified), are to enhance transparency, encourage statewide participation and advance the entire California wine industry toward best practices in environmental stewardship, conservation of natural resources and socially equitable business practices.

The CSWA currently offers the following certification programs:

• Certified California Sustainable Vineyard

• Certified California Sustainable Winery

• Certified California Sustainable Vineyard & Winery

• Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing

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[1] http://www.sonomawineco.com/sustainability.htm